Secretary-General's press encounter after IFAD speech (unofficial transcript)

And I'am also happy to know that the governments are continuing to support them, and they're going to need additional resources, given the challenges we are dealing with. And I hope that will be forthcoming.

Q: Did the Pope invite you to Baghdad?

SG: We did talk about Baghdad, but we didn't talk about my visiting Baghdad. We did discuss his own feelings about the prospect of war and I was also able to meet Cardinal Etchegaray, who briefed me on his own visit. So I met with both of them. And they also shared with me the work they're trying to do to find a peaceful solution.

Q: Are you planning to meet Arab leaders?

SG: I'm on the phone with them quite a lot. Next month I plan to go to the Arab League Summit.

Q: The Vatican says there's hope now, there's a little bit of optimism. Do you share these impressions?

SG: I have maintained that war is not inevitable and that war is always a human catastrophe and we should exhaust all other possibilities for a peaceful settlement before war is ever contemplated.

And even then, it should only be contemplated when the alternative is obviously worse.

Thank you very much.